Mesopotamia and Egypt, Research Paper Example

Mesopotamia and Egypt were two of the oldest civilizations throughout the world, especially considering the historical importance of each in Western Civilization.  Mesopotamia existed in the Middle East and was commonly referred to under the name “Sumer.”  Today, this area is now known as Iraq and is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that were crucial for trading and agriculture.  On the other hand, Egypt is located in northeastern Africa along the Nile River.  Each culture is known for architectural advancements, as well as other political and religious factors.  While they share many similarities, it is the differences of each culture that make them unique and important throughout anthropological research and analysis.  Due to the advancement of each culture, they maintained their own educational methods, political systems and religious beliefs that were each very crucial to the formation of personality and identity in the respective culture.

The educational systems of both civilizations were crucial to the cognitive, intellectual and social advancement of the cultures.  For instance, both cultures are well-known for their advancements in math and science.  The Egyptians were not nearly as advanced mathematically as the Mesopotamians.  They were limited to using only addition, subtraction, and basic algebraic equations to their architecture and daily inventory duties.  The Egyptians performed all of their work around the construct of their solar calendar, which became well-known throughout the world.  The Mesopotamians also had a calendar, but it became historically of less importance and accuracy than the Egyptian calendar.  However, Mesopotamia was acknowledged for its advancements in mathematics and geometry, specifically in being able to use multiplication, division, square roots and quadratic equations for solving complex engineering problems.  In addition to this, the Mesopotamians compiled a 60-unit counting system that is still utilized today.  They were the first to design 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and the hour in counting time.  Egyptians were less concerned with mental advancements rather than performing work duties and creating the pyramids to honor their gods and pharaoh.  The Mesopotamians believed that intellectual intelligence was necessary for social advancement and, thus, it was highly valued by all people.

Both cultures had their own independent political constructs that were responsible for providing resources and governing the people of their respective areas.  In Mesopotamia, the civilization has city-states that were first ruled by the priests of the land.  The priests began to abuse their power and led to the beginnings of the ideas for separation of church and state.  Therefore, the culture began to use kings that had control over individual city-states.  Each city-state had its own laws, gods and unique political structures for handling criminals and providing resources; yet each existed within the geographic location known as Mesopotamia.  On the other hand, Egypt was constructed of one single political system.  The empire was ruled by a pharaoh that had complete control over the land and its people.  The pharaoh’s family continued to rule the empire.  While Egyptians were all loyal to the pharaoh and Egypt, each individual city-state in Mesopotamia had allegiance only to itself and nearby neighbors that they were involved with trading goods and services.  The construction of identity for the Mesopotamians was much different than that of the Egyptians.  Many Mesopotamians were taught to focus on working to honor the city-state and their gods within the different polytheistic belief systems that existed in the civilization.  Meanwhile, Egyptians honored their gods and, sometimes more importantly, the pharaoh through their work and architectural and educational advancements.  The political systems forced a lack of unity among the Mesopotamian region, while this did not exist in Egypt.  There was one cultural identity in Egypt, while there were many in Mesopotamia and some historians argue that it was this lack of unity in the political structure that caused the eventually elimination of the civilization through warfare.

Finally, both Mesopotamia and Egypt had polytheistic cultures in believing in more than one god, and each god was responsible for blessing or condemning the people under the different areas they controlled.  For instance, gods existed for warfare, love, peace, water, and food within each culture.  While the two cultures shared many similarities in their belief systems, as previously mentioned, the Mesopotamians’ beliefs differed in each city-state.  The people had different names and different gods within each specific city-state.  Nevertheless, in both civilizations both cultures were responsible for honoring their gods through different religious acts and had codes to live by.  The Mesopotamians believed that life existed within every living part of nature, a belief that is commonly known as “animism”.  They did not believe in a life after death, and they believed that they would be awarded on earth for their good behaviors.  However, the Egyptians believed in a life after death and that it would be awarded to those individuals that engaged in good behaviors while on earth.  Therefore, each culture had a different moral code and concept of sin that controlled their actions.  Mesopotamians believed that they should work to improve their acts to honor the gods for rewards in the present, while the Egyptians sought to honor the gods and the pharaoh for rewards after death.

Both cultures maintained their own specific educational, political, and religious systems that were important for developing a cultural identity and personality throughout the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.  While each civilization likely shared similar beliefs due to close geographic location, they had many different cultural characteristics that were unique to their specific culture.  Both cultures worked to honor their kings or pharaohs, while simultaneously honoring the gods for rewards in the present or after death.  Meanwhile, the Mesopotamians concentrated more on intellectual and educational advancement for society and for the city-state, than the Egyptians did.  The Egyptians focused on working and building great architectural works to gain rewards after death, instead of concentrating on the supposedly meaningless task of gaining rewards in their present lives.  Each culture is well-known throughout anthropological history, and they continue to play an important role in analyses and cultural understanding throughout the world.

References

Hooker, R. (1996). Mesopotamia: sumerians. Retrieved from http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM

Howard, D. (1996). Eawc essay: the egyptian culture reflected in worship. Retrieved from http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/howard.htm

Pouwels, R. L. (2005). World civilizations. Wadsworth Pub Co.